Forced Mobility: The Relocation of Public-Housing Residents in Atlanta

Abstract

In this paper we argue for the use of ‘mobility’ to describe not just bodily movement, travel, or transport, but as a concept that animates the constellation of policies and power relations that simultaneously move and spatially fix the urban poor. Using a framework developed by Creswell in 2010, in which mobility operates as ‘an entanglement of movement, representation, and practice’, this paper examines the mobility of relocated public-housing residents, who are forced to move as a result of the demolition of project-based housing in the city of Atlanta. It draws from Cresswell's conceptualization of the politics of mobility in terms of motive force, speed, rhythm, route, experience, and friction to more fully understand the mobilities and immobilities of the urban poor as they respond to the neoliberalization of housing policy in cities like Atlanta. Based on our study, we propose the addition of ‘resources’ to Cresswell's framework to more fully capture the importance of individuals' abilities to navigate the complexities of residential relocation, as they draw on a variety of social networks, skills, and faith dispositions. Through a qualitative analysis of interviews and the voice and photographic journals of relocated public-housing residents as they recorded their eviction and relocation process, this paper documents their circulation processes against the backdrop of the city's neoliberalizing housing policies.